Bonded
by Cordy Echelon
Summary: Kradam: Adam and Kris are born werewolves, but Kris doesn't know it.  What happens when they form a mate bond that reveals his furry nature to him?


Adam danced mindlessly to the beat. He was dancing with his ex, Brad Bell, and his ex's new boyfriend, Cassidy Haley, in the dark, sweaty atmosphere of The Luna, a gay club for werewolves and werewolf wannabes. Adam was the former. Well, not quite. He was a born werewolf, which meant he wouldn't come into his full wolfy nature until he found his soulmate. He had so desperately wanted it to be Brad. They had loved each other enough. But when Brad first laid eyes on Cassidy, the two had been bonded. Adam had been crushed. He had to sit back and watch as Brad and Cas went through the change together, while he was left on the sidelines. Now, he was finally over Brad and their friendship was flourishing.

As he was dancing, Adam's attention was drawn to the bar area of the club. Sitting there nursing a Samuel Adams was the cutest boy he had ever seen. At first glance, he looked laid-back and unassuming, but as Adam continued to stare, he detected a hint of tension lurking just below the surface. Adam watched as small hands lifted the beer bottle and lush full lips wrapped aound the bottle's neck. Adam couldn't help imagining those lips sucking something else. Then, the boy looked up and his gaze locked directly on Adam. Upon seeing him, chocolate eyes widened and the boy grew even more tense. Adam smiled a predatory grin. "I'll be right back," he said to his friends.

"I know that look. Don't eat the poor boy," Brad teased as he snuggled closer to Cas.

"And definitely take your time," Cas added as he nuzzled his face into Brad's neck.

Adam left his friends and walked straight over to the boy. "Hey there," he said upon his arrival. "I'm Adam."

"Um, K-kris. I'm Kris," the boy stuttered.

"Kris." Adam tried the name out. It tasted delicious. "Nice to meet you, Kris. If you don't mind my asking, you seem a little out of place. Is this the first time you've been to a bar like this?"

"Yeah, I, uh, never really had the courage to explore this side of myself before."

Adam smiled reassuringly. "It's a little scary when you first embrace it, huh?" he asked. At Kris's nod, he continued. "Do you wanna dance with me? It might help you let out your inner wild side a bit."

"S-sure," Kris said hesitantly.

Adam offered his hand to Kris, who took it timidly. As soon as their skin touched, there was an instant spark. Adam gasped and Kris pulled his hand away quickly. Could it be? Could this really mean that he had finally found his mate? His body began to shiver in excitement. He smiled wide at Kris and grasped his hand again, gently pulling him onto the dance floor.

Their bodies seemed to meld together as soon as they entered the throng of bodies. A heavy beat was pumping in the air. Walls of people surrounded them on all sides. Yet, all Adam was aware of was Kris. He was even more sure that Kris was his mate, now. They fit together perfectly and Adam wanted to stay pressed against him forever. Something was scratching just below the surface of his body that felt exhilarating. It was as if he was finally becoming who he was meant to be. They weren't even one dance in and Adam couldn't wait any longer. He needed Kris desperately. It felt like he would die without having him. "Let's go back to my place," he breathed into Kris's ear. Kris just trembled and nodded his head against Adam's shoulder.

Adam caught sight of Brad and Cas and waved good-bye before dragging Kris out of the club. He would let them know what was going on tomorrow. For tonight, there was only one thing on his mind.

Morning found Adam singing and dancing around his apartment. If there had been any doubt that Kris was his soulmate, that had been eliminated after their night together. They had arrived at the apartment in record time and Adam had wasted no more time in getting Kris in his bed. It was the most magical night of his life.

Now, he was making breakfast for his lover. He didn't have much food in the house-he usually relied on take-out-but he had found some eggs. He could also make toast with his lone loaf of bread. As for coffee, he always had a large supply. He needed it because he usually could barely function in the morning without it, and going to Starbucks was such a Hollywood cliche. Though, this morning, it would serve just for show. He was so energized from the proximity of Kris.

When breakfast was ready, he loaded it onto a tray and brought it over to the bedroom area of the one-room apartment. He softly sat on the bed and began to run his fingers lightly through Kris's hair. He sighed quietly at the beautiful sight of his mate sleeping peacefully. After a few seconds of the gentle caresses, Kris began to stir from his silent slumber. His eyes blinked open and focused on Adam's face. "Good morning, sweetheart," Adam said. "I made breakfast for you."

"Oh, um, thanks," Kris said awkwardly. He sat up and leaned against the headboard. Adam handed him the tray, which Kris took. Then, Adam picked up the one fork and ate the first piece of egg. He sighed in delight at the pleasant tasting food-surprised that he had managed to cook something halfway decently-and scooped some more onto the fork. This he held out to Kris to eat. Kris looked confused as he accepted the bite. When he had chewed and swallowed, he remarked, "It's not like we've been in a relationship forever, it was just one night, man. You don't need to do all this."

"I don't need to, but I want to. Is it so wrong to want to do something for my mate?" Adam replied with hearts in his eyes.

"Your mate? Wait, what?" Kris moved away from Adam and sat in the corner of the bed. "Dude, we barely know each other. Don't you think you're moving a little too fast?"

"Of course I'm not moving too fast. We're soulmates, can't you feel it? This month, we'll go through the change and then we'll be bonded for the rest of our lives."

"The change?" Kris was looking at him like he was crazy now. "What the heck are you talking about?"

Adam was thoroughly confused. Didn't Kris know what was happening? "When two born werewolves are soulmates, they spend their first month together going through the change. By the full moon, we'll both be full werewolves. Didn't you parents tell you?"

"I...my parents are dead. I was adopted," Kris replied. "What the heck do you mean werewolves?"

"Oh Kris, you really don't know?" At Kris's continued blank stare, Adam continued his explanation. "Well, one or both of your biological parents must have been a werewolf because you're one. We were both born to werewolves and are therefore also werewolves. Unlike made werewolves, we unleash our inner wolf only when we meet our soulmate. You're my soulmate. If we stay together during the month of change, there will be no pain, only love and bonding. But if we're apart, it will be very painful for us both. Our first full moon together will change us for the first time, but after that, it'll hold no pull over our bodies. We'll feel refreshed when we change during other full moons, but we can change whenever we want after the first month."

"You're insane!" Kris drew his legs up and hugged them tight to his chest. "Are you on something?"

"You don't believe me? But I thought you were at The Luna to explore your werewolf nature."

"No! I was at a gay club to explore my gay nature!"

"Oh," Adam said dejected. His own mate didn't believe him. Kris surely had to feel the effects of their bond. He didn't know what to do to make him believe. Then he got an idea. "I know! I'll have Brad and Cas come over. They're my friends and they're also werewolves. They already went through the change, so they can show you what they are!" Adam jumped up from the bed and rushed to the phone. He quickly dialed up his friends and begged them to come over at such an early hour. When they finally agreed, Adam turned back to Kris. "They'll prove it to you. Then you can accept that we're bonded." He sat in a chair to await the werewolves' arrival.

Brad and Cas arrived shortly after the call. They didn't bother knocking, just came right in. In Adam's circle of friends, houses were communal. No space belonged to just one person. Everyone shared. "What's the problem, Addie? You seemed urgent on the phone," Brad got right down to business.

"Brad, Cas, I'd like you to meet my soulmate, Kris." Adam indicated the man huddled in the corner of the bed.

Brad's eyes lit up in delight. "Oh, my! You've finally found him! I'm so happy for you." He rushed over to Adam and enveloped him in a large hug. "But what's wrong? You surely didn't need to get us out of bed to tell us that."

"Kris was adopted and his adoptive parents either didn't know or didn't tell him about his heritage. He doesn't believe that we're werewolves."

"That is a problem easily fixed," Brad said airily. He walked back over to Cassidy. "Why don't we show him proof of what we are, darling."

Cas smiled and nodded his agreement. They both faced Kris. "Kris, I'm gonna need you to look at us," Cassidy said. Kris had been looking at the floor, avoiding any eye contact with the three wolves. He looked up at Brad and Cas. Upon receiving his attention, the couple both shifted at the same time. One moment, Kris was looking at two men and the next he was looking at two very large and scary wolves. He screamed.

Brad and Cas shifted back to their human forms and looked nervously at Adam. Adam rushed quickly over to Kris to calm him down. "See Kris, I was telling the truth. They're werewolves just like we are." He reached out to embrace his mate, who violently flinched away.

"Get away from me you...you...monster!" Kris shouted as he jumped up from the bed. He ran to the door to escape the three werewolves. Brad and Cas were still regaining their human equilibrium and couldn't move to stop him.

"Wait! Kris, please wait!" Adam shouted as he chased after him. But he was too slow. When he ran into the hallway, down the stairs, and outside the building onto the street, Kris was already gone. He collapsed to the ground in anguish. "Kris, please come back," he sobbed silently into his hands.

The pain started right away. It was so excruciating that Adam couldn't move, and Brad and Cas had to carry him back into the apartment. They laid him on the bed, where he immediately curled up into a ball. Kris couldn't have gotten far like this. If Adam was in so much agony, then Kris must be in just as much. Someone would notice a man screaming in misery eventually. They would no doubt be reunited soon enough.

Because of the torturous blasts of pain, Adam could pay no attention to his surroundings. The next day or two, he spent in bed with Brad or Cas taking care of him. When one was watching over Adam, the other was out (as a wolf) searching for Kris. So far, they had had no luck. Kris had managed to disappear completely.

Adam could do nothing without spasms rocking through his entire body. He felt like millions of sharp, tiny needles were piercing every inch of his skin constantly. He would periodically shout Kris's name, hoping in vain that Kris would somehow hear and come back to him. It was all to no avail.

"I found him!" Cas shouted as he ran through the door on the third day of Adam's misery.

"You did? Where is he?" Brad asked excitedly.

Cas's expression of triumph fell for a moment. "That's the problem. I followed his scent all the way from a rundown apartment building to the airport. It ends there. He must have fled the state."

"Oh," Brad sighed dejectedly. "How are we gonna find him now?"

"He probably lived at the apartments where I first picked up his trail. I can ask some of his neighbors where they think he'd go. Maybe we'll get a lucky break."

"Perfect!" Brad exclaimed. "Let's get moving."

The next day, the three werewolves were driving to Arkansas in pursuit of Kris. Cas had gotten lucky when someone remembered that Kris was originally from Conway, a small town in central Arkansas. They figured that that was the first place he would go. They would have taken a plane, but Adam was in no condition for that. A man screaming in anguish would no doubt alarm the security guards.

It took an entire day of nearly non-stop driving, with Brad and Cas alternating driving duties, before they finally arrived in Conway. As soon as the werewolves rolled down the windows of the car, they picked up on Kris's scent. "Adam, he's here, baby," Brad soothed as Cas accelerated the car exceedingly above the speed limit. "You'll be with him soon. Then the pain will go away."

Adam smiled smally which quickly turned into a grimace as another spasm rocked through his body. "H-hur-ry," he managed to croak out.

"We are, sweetie, we are."

The trail led them to a small house on the outskirts of the town. A massive tree cast a shadow over the entire building. Small purple flowers ran all around the house. "Damn," Cas muttered under his breath. "These people definitely know what we are. That's a Mountain Ash and those are Wolfsbane." Mountain Ash and Wolfsbane were two of the very few things that could hurt a werewolf. Mistletoe was another, which made celebrating Christmas a real problem. Lucky for Brad and Cas, though, they were friends with a talisman crafter who specialized in werewolves' protection. He had crafted them two rings that would render them immune to the pollen of Wolfsbane and the shadow of a Mountain Ash.

Adam was not so lucky. He immediately began to cough intensely, wrenching violently away from the open window. "We need to get Kris outta there quick," Cas said as he and Brad got out of the car. They both moved to carry Adam in with them. The proximity of a mate would lessen the effects of the poisonous plants, but they had to hurry. With Adam's current condition, he wouldn't be able to survive the exposure for too long. It was a miracle Kris was still alive after days of being subjected to the torture.

The trio ran quickly towards the house, hoping to get inside fast to find Kris. Brad knocked on the door while Cas held Adam up beside him. No one came to answer. Brad knocked one more time. They knew Kris was in the house. They could smell him clearly. After a few beats of silence, a small cry came from inside. A muffled "Help," was able to reach the werewolves' keen ears. Brad didn't waste any time waiting for someone to come to the door. He rammed against it, smashing it to pieces. He rushed in and followed his nose to a door hidden underneath the staircase. He opened it and discovered another staircase leading down.

"P-please," a small voice whimpered from below. "Help please."

"Kris!" Adam shouted with as much might as he could muster. "We're coming for you baby." He broke away from Cassidy's strong grip, already feeling somewhat better for being so close to his soulmate. He stumbled down the stairs, his hands wrapped around the railing in a death grip. When he finally got to the bottom of the stairs, he looked around for Kris. The basement consisted of one dark room with concrete floors and unfinished walls. Against one wall was a rack of weapons and torture implements. Beside these were vials of Wolfsbane extract, no doubt to cover the tips of the swords, needles, and arrows. The only other thing in the room was a table-like bed that Kris was locked into with metal bars. "Kris, baby, I'm here!" Adam said happily as he rushed over to his lover. He collapsed against the side of the table. Kris looked up at him with relief in his eyes. Adam gently ran his hand through Kris's hair.

"Adam. You came," Kris said in a scratchy voice weary from days of pain and captivity. He smiled up at Adam, who smiled back widely.

"Of course I did," Adam soothed. "I love you. I wouldn't leave you here to suffer." He looked towards the bars in dismay. He may no longer be in pain, but his strength wouldn't be able to fully recover until he was away from the poisonous Wolfsbane. Brad and Cas, who had been waiting on the sidelines during Adam and Kris's reunion, approached the table.

"Allow us." Cas grasped the first bar and pulled. It came easily off the table, as the second bar did when Brad pulled it free. The other bars were removed until, finally, Kris was no longer tied to the table.

He sat up and was immediately engulfed in a big hug from Adam. "Hey," he said into Adam's ear.

"Hey," Adam answered. They laughed happily together..

Their joy was short lived, however, as Brad asked, "But why were you tied to the table? Isn't this your parents' house?"

"Yeah, why would they tie you up?" Adam asked in confusion.

Kris looked at the ground and sniffled. "Well, they know about werewolves. They knew even before they adopted me. They're werewolf hunters, and they absolutely hate our kind. It was...it was...," Kris trailed off as sobs overtook him. Adam clutched him tight and whispered soothingly into his ear. "It was them who killed my real parents. They think it's fun to kill any werewolf, good or bad. When they discovered my parents had a son, they took me in. I guess they hoped that if I didn't know about my heritage, I would never become a full werewolf. When I came home, not only was I in pain from our separation, but I was reacting to the flowers and the tree. When they realized they had failed in suppressing my inner wolf, they attacked me and tied me down here. They've been poking at me with Wolfsbane laced needles for days." He cried harder into Adam's shoulder. Adam ran a hand up and down his back.

"My God, that's horrible! They're your parents! How could someone do such a thing to their own child?" Brad exclaimed.

"Easy," a voice sounded from the top of the staircase. "Our child was human. You monsters are not."

Brad and Cas turned quickly, snarling at the two figures at the top of the stairs. Kris shivered in terror and burrowed deeper into Adam's chest. "He's still the same person," Adam said softly, though still loud enough for the two humans to hear. "Just because he's finally becoming his true self, doesn't make him any less of the boy you raised." Kris smiled up at Adam appreciatively.

"He used to be the boy we raised," said the woman. "But the moment he met you, he turned into a vile disgusting abomination. And we kill abominations."

The humans leapt down the stairs, two large swords swishing through the air. Brad and Cas shifted into wolves and leapt out of the way, only to turn around and grown menacingly at the attackers. The man rushed towards the wolves, leaving the woman to guard him from behind. In the confusion of the battle, Adam picked Kris up off of the table and ran toward the stairs. The four fighters payed no attention as he rushed up and out of the house.

He ran with Kris until he could no longer feel the effects of the poisonous plants. They were about 200 yards from the house, where human and animal screams alike floated out into the air. Adam set Kris down on the soft grass and collapsed next to him. He slipped his hand into Kris's. The two stared up at the blue sky as they could feel their renewed proximity healing their bodies quickly. When he felt better than he had in days, Adam turned towards Kris with a serious expression. "I know you ran away for a reason. You don't have to stay with me if you want. I just ask that you stay until we've fully changed. I really don't want to ever relive the pain of the last few days. After that, you can do whatever you want."

"Is that what you want?" Kris asked, a note of hesitancy in his voice. "Do you want me to leave after the change?"

"Of course I don't want you to leave. I've been waiting my whole life to find you. I know you probably think it's a little fast to be so committed, but I love you." Adam squeezed Kris's hand gently.

"How do you know you love me? Maybe the mate bond thing is just our inner wolves. Maybe that doesn't mean the same thing as human love." Kris looked away.

Adam could practically see the gears turning in Kris's head, so he knew Kris didn't really believe that. He was just trying to rationalize what he was feeling. He was raised as human, after all, and none of this was normal human behavior. Adam suspected Kris would have a lot of reconciling to do with his human and wolf natures in the near future. "They are the same thing," he said. "The wolf's feelings are just intensified versions of our own. If we weren't werewolves, it may have taken us longer, but we would have eventually fallen in love." Seeing that Kris still didn't believe him, he kept trying to explain. "Have you ever seen an elderly couple who have been together since high school?" he asked. Kris nodded. "Well, our bond- our love- is kinda like that. We just skipped a couple of years in between."

Kris rolled over onto his stomach and flung an arm over Adam's chest. "I sense that you're telling the truth. I don't know how I know, I'm guessing it's also part of the bond?"

"Yeah, we'll both know when the other lies."

"Then I don't want to leave you. I know deep down that you'll be perfect for me. Can you forgive me for running away?"

"There's nothing to forgive; you were just scared." Adam smiled bashfully at Kris. "Are you sure you want to stay. This is your last chance to leave. If you decide you don't want to stay with me, I'll prepare myself to let you go at the end of the month. It's no problem." In reality, it was a huge problem; he didn't want to let Kris walk out of his life again. But he had to try to hide his true feelings. The decision had to be Kris's.

"I know when you're lying, remember? It would crush you if I walked out."

Adam sighed. "You'd leave me only a shell of the man I was, but that doesn't matter. What you want matters."

Kris smiled and cuddled close into Adam's side. "I want you," he said simply before reaching up for a kiss.

Adam readily returned it, overjoyed to finally have found someone to love.

The battle between the werewolves and the hunters was over quckly. Brad had distracted the hunters, making them think that he was the easiest target. Cas took the opportunity to shift back into his human form to grab the woman and push her onto the table, locking her up in the same bars that had held her adopted son. The man was distracted by the cries of his companion, so he didn't notice when Brad shifted and raised a sword to hit him over the head with the handle. He was knocked out cold.

As soon as their attackers were incapacitated, the couple shifted again to sniff out their fellow werewolves. They found them locked in a passionate kiss not too far from the house. They left the two lovebirds alone for a while to let them catch up in peace.

The first month of Adam and Kris's transformation was a beautiful time filled with love and affection. They stayed close together and were always in the same room. No one could tear them apart.

Their first full moon, they spent at their apartment. Kris had moved in with Adam right away after the Arkansas incident. He no longer had any doubts. With Adam's help, he had managed to accept everything about the werewolf side of himself. As wolves, they had laid curled up together on the bed, reveling in the release of the wolf that had been straining to be let out.

The second night was spent in a forest far outside of LA. They had driven hours to get to somewhere secluded, so they could run around and enjoy their new found freedom. They shifted and ran through the trees, playing tag, hide-and-seek, and wrestling. The wrestling evolved into romancing. They both felt closer than ever before.

The next morning, the sun rose on them lying naked next to a stream. Kris curled close to Adam and kissed him thoroughly before they both rose and walked back to their car, ready to return to their wonderful life together.


End file.
